5 io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cut down and peel them. The trees are first decorticated from the 

 ground up as far as can be reached, and then, after felling and remov- 

 ing the clinging vines and mosses, the rough, outer bark is beaten off 

 with a club or mallet. The bark is then cut around the trunk in sec- 

 tions of two to three feet, and longitudinally in strips of six to eight 

 inches in width, then removed with the blade of a machete. 



When first taken from the tree the inner surface of cinchona-bark 

 shows a handsome cream-tint, but, on exposure to the atmosphere, 

 rapidly darkens to a dirty red. The barks are usually taken to the 

 main camp for drying and storage. The thick bark of the trunk re- 

 quires great care in drying, because of the excessive dampness of the 

 atmosphere, which sometimes necessitates the use of artificial heat to 

 prevent molding ; it is piled up in tiers with sticks between the layers 

 to allow free circulation of air, and heavy stones or fragments of rocks 

 are placed on top to flatten it. The thin bark from the young trees 

 and small limbs dries more rapidly, and rolls itself up into quills. 



One of the greatest difficulties connected so far with the gathering 

 of cinchona-bark is that of transporting it to the coast at the end of 

 the season. It is roughly sorted, mainly according to the part of the 

 tree from which it is obtained, and packed in bales of about one hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds each ; the Indians carry these bales on their 

 backs a distance of sometimes hundreds of miles to a transfer ware- 

 house, whence it can be transported by mules to the nearest shipping- 

 place. The worn appearance of most flat bark of commerce is due to 

 the long friction which it undergoes during transportation. 



The Indians, in carrying bark, bear the main weight of the bur- 

 den upon their heads, by placing over the forehead a strip of raw- 

 hide to which are attached cords of the same material lashed to the 

 bale ; they stoop forward to maintain their equilibrium, and use long 

 Alpine sticks to steady and aid them in ascending or descending dan- 

 gerous cliffs. The skeletons of hundreds of wretched peons can be 

 seen in the far depths of the chasms below of some of the older trails, 

 bleaching beneath the tropical sun, whose earthly toils were ended by 

 a misstep on the verge of one or the other frightful precipice, and 

 now and then ghastly human skulls are seen placed in niches or crev- 

 ices in the projecting rocks of the mountain-sides along the narrow 

 passage, suggestive of lurking dangers. Another fearful terror to the 

 Indians is the malarial fevers, to which they quickly yield, owing to 

 great exposure and want of nutritious food. It was said that, during 

 a recent severe malarial season, as many as twenty-five per cent, of 

 the Indians employed in one district died from fevers before the har- 

 vest was completed, and it is only by extreme poverty, or obligations 

 as peons, that they are induced to enter the bark forests to encounter 

 the dangers for the meager pittance of ten to twenty-five cents per 

 day. 



The final sorting and classifying of bark are done at the main store- 



